No one was harmed by any of the things that the author is complaining about.
Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful
181–190 of 222 posts
Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be honest, at least part of this sounds more like inane British "safety" bullshit to me. Jumping on trains is clearly wtf and unacceptable, but no tripods because "too dangerous"? Yeah nah. If you're getting a lot of abuse then your system probably stinks, as, by and large, people aren't assholes or want to be angry. They just want to take their holiday snaps, you know. So here's an alternative take: just let peop…
It's obvious you've never been to a place that has a wall of tripods setup. It doesn't have to do with being stabbed by a tripod, it has to do with a human taking up way more space than they should be in a crowded area. You're free to take up as much space as you like, but if you don't like people being upset at you (rightfully so?) then don't? Let's take your tripping argument at it's face value, does tripping + tra…
> t doesn't have to do with being stabbed by a tripod, it has to do with a human taking up way more space than they should be
That was not the argument that was put forth.
> does tripping + trains sound like a good idea?
Yes, I've often seen people trip and fly 6 metres through the air in front of a train.
> The better take is, if you don't like the rules you can simply leave.
That's just a silly discussion stopper. As I already said in my previous comment, there are many more possible options than a "strict rule of no tripods". These kind of sites exist for people to enjoy their hobby and heritage, and the smart and empathic course of action is to enable that for as many people as possible, and if that includes tripods, then so be it, and that should be accommodated as best as possible. "Strictly no tripods", finger-wagging, and rulebook-thumping is unconstructive at best.
Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's obvious you've never been to a place that has a wall of tripods setup. It doesn't have to do with being stabbed by a tripod, it has to do with a human taking up way more space than they should be in a crowded area. You're free to take up as much space as you like, but if you don't like people being upset at you (rightfully so?) then don't? Let's take your tripping argument at it's face value, does tripping + tra…
> t doesn't have to do with being stabbed by a tripod, it has to do with a human taking up way more space than they should be That was not the argument that was put forth. > does tripping + trains sound like a good idea? Yes, I've often seen people trip and fly 6 metres through the air in front of a train. > The better take is, if you don't like the rules you can simply leave. That's just a silly discussion stopper.…
The original comment wasn't about if tripods should be allowed or not but people using them despite not being allowed.
Have you been to that place? Because it sounds to me that you want to solve the issue of people breaking rules by allowing them in the first place, when you might not even know any specifics of the environment where it's applied?
Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
See also street photography, where just asking people if it's ok to take their photo makes life nicer and easier. Photographers are mostly allowed to take photos of people in the street, but some of them can be pretty obnoxious about it.
Bruce Gilden springs to mind when you mention "obnoxious" photographers. His technique is to just shove a camera in somebody's face and take the shot. Often there's a flash involved too. Watching a YouTube video of him doing his thing on the streets of NY was both quite horrifying and very, very cringey. I'm genuinely surprised nobody hit him yet.
I wasn't familiar with Bruce Gilden, but the first YouTube video I watched was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkIWW6vwrvM. My take is that this is a very different kind of "obnoxious" than what was described in the original article. Most people attempting to imitate him would be that bad kind of obnoxious.
I haven't done much research, but Bruce Gilden strikes me someone who is a pioneer of (NYC) street photography. He has been doing it for a long time and doesn't seem like a photo hipster. Maybe he was considered one when he started out. The fact he wears photography attire is probably disarming in a way. If it was someone trying to blend in then it might be different. The photos from the video are not derpy photos as my wife likes to describe my portraits of hers so he is trying to show an interesting side of life. I'm sure a lot of pictures don't meet his standards.
Within photo groups in my city, I see a lot of people into street photography because it's the cool aesthetic that matches with their urban lifestyle. It's cool to be into photography, so they got a digital rangefinder and jumped into it without thinking about the art or technique. They form a cargo cult, but often they get broken from it upon discovery that there is more to photography that they are missing. The obnoxious instragrammers are not likely to have the same outcome.
Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's obvious you've never been to a place that has a wall of tripods setup. It doesn't have to do with being stabbed by a tripod, it has to do with a human taking up way more space than they should be in a crowded area. You're free to take up as much space as you like, but if you don't like people being upset at you (rightfully so?) then don't? Let's take your tripping argument at it's face value, does tripping + tra…
> t doesn't have to do with being stabbed by a tripod, it has to do with a human taking up way more space than they should be That was not the argument that was put forth. > does tripping + trains sound like a good idea? Yes, I've often seen people trip and fly 6 metres through the air in front of a train. > The better take is, if you don't like the rules you can simply leave. That's just a silly discussion stopper.…
People using tripods are less likely to be aware of their surroundings than those who are holding their cameras -- think about it -- if you're using a tripod, you're probably peering into the viewfinder and hyperfocused on fine-tuning intricate settings on your camera to set up your tripod shot, right? If you're holding the camera in your hands, you at least have a part of your brain focusing on making sure you don't drop it or it doesn't get bumped out of your hands.
People like to complain about "health and safety gone mad" but there's usually a psychological component to blanket-banning things. It's usually the path of least resistance.
Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
> t doesn't have to do with being stabbed by a tripod, it has to do with a human taking up way more space than they should be That was not the argument that was put forth. > does tripping + trains sound like a good idea? Yes, I've often seen people trip and fly 6 metres through the air in front of a train. > The better take is, if you don't like the rules you can simply leave. That's just a silly discussion stopper.…
People using tripods are less likely to be aware of their surroundings than those who are holding their cameras -- think about it -- if you're using a tripod, you're probably peering into the viewfinder and hyperfocused on fine-tuning intricate settings on your camera to set up your tripod shot, right? If you're holding the camera in your hands, you at least have a part of your brain focusing on making sure you don't…
That sounds like an extremely flimsy post-hoc explanation to me.
> People like to complain about "health and safety gone mad" but there's usually a psychological component to blanket-banning things. It's usually the path of least resistance.
That doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, or even that it's the sensible thing to do.
In addition, after having lived in several different countries, I found that the extreme institutional distrust of everyone to act even vaguely sensible is rather specific to the UK, as is the almost gleeful willingness of the British people to enforce these kind of rules on others even in the most pedantic of circumstances. Other countries with fairly strong Health & Safety cultures – mostly UK-infuenced countries like Ireland or NZ – also have some tendencies, but people also tend to be more flexible and apply at least some judgement in specific cases, which is much rarer in the UK.
Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
They make money from selling lavender. Not from having pretty fields. If the police won't do their jobs, you can take matters into your own hands.
Why buy lavender if you can just be a photographer/instagrammer and steal them? Pretty fields are what brings potential buyers to their farm in the first place, no?
Have you ever travelled to a farm because its pretty to buy their lavender? If I buy lavender, its because I want lavender, not because the farm is pretty (and Ill probably buy it from a shop and not the farm directly)
Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is obviously terrible behaviour. As an amateur photographer myself I particularly dislike the Instagram driven “race to the bottom”. However... I do think in a situation such as this it’s a missed commercial opportunity. If I managed a highly “Instagrammable” private location I’d aggressively enforce good conduct and at the same time have paid access to alternative times for photographers. You want to be a selfi…
You're a lavender farmer. Do you also want to run a tourism business, including hiring security to enforce that only paying customers get the exclusive benefit you are now selling? I doubt it. That "aggressively enforce good conduct" is key. There are dozens, hundreds of people showing up at the same time at some of these places.
I think that, sadly, that decision was taken out the farmer's hands once the hordes of instagrammers started showing up. The choice he's faced now is "run a tourism business that keeps it skmehwta quarantined from your main business" or "run an unmanaged tourism giveaway that harms your main business".
Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful
#189My personal favorite is this instagram profile making fun of influencers taking photos and videos in the famous Rue Crémieux street in Paris. https://www.instagram.com/clubcremieux/
Do these people not realize that they are at someone's house, not a god damn movie set??? How could one be so obnoxious?
Instagram has made any setting a movie set, that's the implied value of all these pictures.
Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful
#190I used to think photography was an interesting hobby, not for me, however. Now, after the proliferation of cheap DSLRs I now think photography is the most obnoxious thing ever. Now ever asshole imagines themselves as a photographer and acts like a dick to get that one picture. I was out with a wannabe photographer friend and watched her climb over a safety barrier and dangerously close to the edge of a cliff in order…
As someone who‘s doing photography as a side business - so much this. Actually, let‘s add „I‘ve got a DSLR, so I have to produce good photos“ to the list. In reality though most of them have no sense for the moment or good composition. And the worst part is: “my $relative has a DSLR and he’d shoot for free, do it for free and you’ll get exposure”. Sigh.
Interesting comment to read on HN where a lot of people want their software to be free too. :) Just sayin'..
But yeah, I get your point.. its super annoying when people do those things or when they say "you must have a nice camera" instead of complimenting your skills.